2,5/5 stars

not sure what to say
the trans character feels weirdly written for me and in a very cis-perspective especially with the sexual problems the character face (you want to touch your partner but you don't want her to touch you? You feel the need to dominate her and if not you feel sick so yes you are obviously a man???)
other than that, it's pretty interesting to see Greenlandic literature talking about queer characters i guess but idk feels kinda numb after reading this thing

Je pense que le style n'est pas pour moi

Disons que ce serait plus 4 étoiles et demie pour ce fabuleux roman, si Goodreads le permettait!

La 1e partie ne m'avait pas impressionné, mais j'ai TELLEMENT bien fait de continuer ma lecture! Les 3 autres parties sont géniales, et en voyant les personnages se dévoiler devant nos yeux, on ne peut que plus s'attacher! Belles réflexions également sur le post-colonialisme, notamment avec les nombreux recours à l'anglais, et les identités de genre! Une lecture inspirante, que je vous recommande vivement!

for some reason I really want to go to visit Greenland now

This is the first novel I’ve ever read written by a Greenlander, so I was really looking forward to it.

The main characters are five young Greenlanders who live in Nuuk, the capital of Greenland. Fia; Inuk, Fia’s brother; Arnaq, Inuk’s best friend and Fia’s temporary roommate; Sara, Fia’s love interest; and Ivik, Sara’s partner, spend their nights engaging in partying and excessive drinking. Each of the five receives a chapter where we learn about his/her struggles with gender and/or sexual identity.

The five young people have much in common. Each experiences self-loathing, shame, fear, confusion, and depression. All feel very alone and engage in self-destructive behaviours. All yearn for love. Despite the prevalence of negative emotions, hope is not entirely absent. The suggestion seems to be that if people find their true identities and accept themselves, they can transform and be reborn.

The hopefulness I tended to find a bit too earnest. Were there not some hope, this would be a very depressing novel, but the problem is that some of the characters experience figurative bolts of lightning which transform them. For example, one woman witnesses the birth of her niece and her immediate, almost overpowering love for this child and her innocence motivates a total change in outlook? Another character experiences love at first sight and it brings about an epiphany?

I have not experienced struggles of the type described in the book so had some difficulty identifying with the characters and wondered about how realistically characters’ conflicts were portrayed. For instance, one character is in a lesbian relationship but a dislike of being touched sexually leads to the conclusion that she is transgender. Is this a realistic description of gender dysphoria? I imagine the novel would definitely appeal to people from the LGBTQIA+ community.

This is a contemporary novel and the narrative style reflects that. Stream-of-consciousness, emails, text messages, hashtags, and social media postings are used. Stream-of-consciousness dominates; the problem is that the same chapter will have sections that are very unstructured and other passages that are grammatically structured. For instance, Fia’s chapter begins with “Peter. One man. Three years. Thousands of plans. Millions of dinner invitations. Vacuuming, dishwashing and cleaning, rushing on forever towards infinity. False smiles turning uglier. Dry kisses stiffening like desiccated fish. Bad sex should be avoided at all costs.” This is an interior monologue style. This is followed by properly punctuated dialogue. Then there are pages that read like this: “steak, soda water and fruit, oh, did you remember our membership card, back home in a stinking bus filled with people who smile and greet you, iggu, baby, you’re ever so sweet, he says, my lips smile, my brain’s about to explode; another part of my mind says stop smiling . . . ”. It would have been more logical to use a different style for each character/chapter.

The setting is primarily Nuuk, Greenland, but the events could in fact be taking place in any small city anywhere. Nothing differentiates the culture of Greenlander young people from that of young people elsewhere in the world? This is perhaps the author’s point, but I would have liked more sense of place.

Though the style is not traditional, the book is not a difficult read. I can’t say that I disliked it, but it just didn’t resonate with me. I would recommend it to those interested in young queer culture.

Note: I received a digital galley of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.

Please check out my reader's blog (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski).

Goodreads recommended this after I finished Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips. I guess on a very simplified surface level, the two have similarities - set in cold, sparsely populated parts of the world that are underrepresented in literature, told from numerous characters' points of view - but I found Disappearing Earth far more interesting and worthwhile.

I had hoped this would be an intriguing look at modern life in Greenland, but there is unfortunately almost no sense of place. With a few word changes, it could be set practically anywhere. The main characters are all queer and nearly all storylines are LGBTQ-centric, which also gave me high hopes for the book, but sadly it did not come together into a satisfying read for me. If it weren't so short, I wouldn't have stuck with it past the first handful of pages.

Lots of reviews call it "modern" in what seems to be a positive sense. The parts that this seems to refer to - screenshots of texts, hashtags - feel to me cheesy, lazy, and will probably soon seem dated.

adding to my list of books that are simultaneously gay and homophobic

7/10

One of my goals this year is to read 30 books set in 30 different countries, Last Night in Nuuk takes place in Greenland and I can say for sure this is my first Greenlandic book to date. The book is about a group of friends/acquaintances who each tell their own experience of the same series of events mostly taking place over one weekend. The book is heavily focused on queer themes and I rather enjoyed her style of writing. I'm not sure the story about the trans person was handled in the best way but that could just be my cisgender perspective. Overall, I found this book to be quite enjoyable and unique and was a rather quick read.

CW: bullying, gender dysphoria, infidelity, homophobic language